Understanding Fear
by MetallicHawk
Summary: She found him in his room. Both of which where covered with blood. So may questions had to be asked to a man who never answered them. But he was their friend and she needs to help him, silent or not. My first FanFic :) Rated T but could bump up to M later depending on gore and stttuuufff.
1. Agateophobia- The Fear of insanity

Hey Everyone! Okayziez so this is my first FanFic and all and to be honest I did this late at night really fast so no one has checked it (I am just really lazy) so don't expect miracles! XD

Anyway here goes, oh and just to note I don't really usually write such serious stories on such wacky games and neither do I usually portray the certain character as troubled/depressed person I just think of them as a bit bonkers but for this story he is so ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

She found him alone.

Sitting almost dead like on the center of the floor.

The room dark, save the soft red glow from his visor that dimly illuminated his figure.

His broken, strangled, painful breathing was that only sound existing from the deathly silence.

The smell metallic, fresh... familiar.

She called out to him, coming out like a forced croak. No reply.

The fear.

Why did she feel this fear?

It ripped through her nerves in static shocks.

It screamed at her.

It told her to run.

From something she could not control.

It was as if the world had become disconnected, as even the sounds of life and clutter...of her friends downstairs, they were no longer heard.

So isolated. So alone.

Her brain screamed at her, as she tried to bring herself to reality. He is your friend. He only went to his room. You are only here to fetch him... Her brain preached to her as she raised a limp shaken hand to the light switch.

The blood.

Her eyes widened and her knees bucked. She began to feel dizzy and loose control.

It was everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

It was on the scratched, ripped walls. It was on the torn floor. The room was painted with death.

He was sitting, his arms entangled with head, his suit ripped with his own blood dripping from them. His bone frame was shaking violently and his visor was smashed revealing one of his eyes.

Why...

She should of ran...She did not know why... I SHOULD BE HELPING HIM GOD DAMIT NOT RUNNING AWAY. She inwardly screamed to herself.

The seconds where being dragged by their teeth as his head turn to look at her.

She was frozen, paralysed as those eyes... Those bored through her soul.

* * *

So wada ya think eh? I was kinda proud of it for a late night attempt and, TRUST ME, it will make a whole lot more sense if I do a second chapter which I might if you guys liked it!

Pleaze review good or bad!


	2. Lchthyophobia- The Fear of fish

Okaziez! CHAPTER 2222222 thanks tae summer holidays i can write these in ma spare time.. which is always XD Okay soo this is completely different from the last chapter and is just a kind of intro sort of thing so not much will be explained in plot wise BUT DARE IZ ONEZ ! wuhahahahahah!

*ahem*

Im still not quite happy with the ending section with this and Im not sure I worded it well and Maya gets all thoughtful and stufffffff soooo yeah. Also i cant help but feel this is to non-borderlands feel so I will have to work on that. I also tried to add a bit of comedy into it *fingers crossed* before I got to the whole dramatic blood stuff which is why I gather most of you are here.

Also there is quite a bit of swearing in this but to be honest if you have made it through playing Borderlands without hearing swearing then I salute you cause that is INCREDIBLE!

This story is mainly gonna follow Maya.

Anywaazzzzz ON WITH CHAPTER 2!

* * *

"GO FISH BITCHES!"

Gaige was screaming at the top of her lungs as the self-proclaimed queen of Go Fish won for the third time in a row.

"Okay, okay! Calm down you won. Sheesh." Maya sighed as another £50 went down the drain and wondered how she was getting thrashed by a sugar pumped eighteen year-old. Gaige, Brick, Maya and Zer0 where sitting round a table playing arguably the most questionable version of Go Fish in recorded history, and I, without going into details, will say that it contained a maliwan shotgun, a psycho's head, some pretzels and a box of used tissues. Maya supposed that there were somethings in life that would always be a mystery, like Gaige totally not looking at other peoples cards in order to win, or if Zer0 took showers with his suit on (or took it off at all for that matter). Brick however, wasn't talking this particular defeat so easily.

"NO WAY! You cheating slab, IM GONNA PUCH YOU!" Gaige's eyes widened as big as saucers and her arms shot up in the air as Brick lunched over the table trying to tackle her. What occurred next can only be described as a cartoon cloud of 'mechromancer on robot on hulk-of-meat action'... with rocket launchers! Meanwhile Maya watched amused as the two began to destroy the downstairs room of the Crimson Raiders HQ, with a terrified Patricia Tannins hidden in one of the washing machines. Poor woman had just spent the past three hours barfing into a handbag after we had asked her to play cards, and now this! She smiled to herself at this thought and looked over to Zer0. The assassin was still clutching his cards, eyes (or visor) glued to the chaotic pair , displaying an '0_0' face. She liked Zer0 in all his little weird ways and he was not as isolated and emotionally distant as people seemed to think he was (admittedly the haiku wasn't helping). He got along with the rest us well enough, especially Salvador (the two of them seemed to be best pals) ,and for some bizarre reason Gaige ,when she wasn't trying to yank of his helmet.

But lately he has become...quiet. Shy even. Not the haiku shouting, badass, psychopath they knew and missed. He would never speak unless someone asked him something, but then he would be even more vague with his answers than usual and anytime they where taking a break from vault hunting, wether it be at Moxxi's bar or back at HQ, he would only sit quietly at the corner, hands in lap, head bent down.

"Im going to go to my room"

Zer0's monotone voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, okay then. Sure you don't want to stay for a bitt longer?" Part of a bench whizzed past them. "Er... Im sure those two will be done soon..."

"You squished my My Little Pony collection! DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" Gaige then lobbed a lamp at Brick. Zer0 swiftly shook his head, stood up, and began to briskly walk towards the door.

"Well, night then..."Maya somewhat hurt as she watched him leave. She knew something was wrong.

As quickly as Zer0 had left Mordecai and Lilith walked in...Okay maybe 'walked in' are not quite the words, it more like, 'burst in like an angry tiger with a fork stuck stuck up its backside'.

"Listen Lil Im sorry!"Mordecai scurrying around, trying to catch her arm.

"Sorry for what, being a complete asshole!?" It wouldn't of taken a genius on Eden-5 to work out that she was a teensy bit pissed of at the moment and Lilith being pissed off wasn't generally a good or a safe thing. She was like the head of the pack and a fierce lioness, you could even smell her self-importance from a mile away.

"You know something else?It would of been COMPLETELY okay if you hadn't...OH FOR FUCK SAKE!" Her sirens rage now turned on Gaige and Brick in the middle of a battlefield and, to make things worse, they were completely ignoring her. Not. Smart.

"CUT IT OUT YOU TWO! RIGHT NOW!" Her tattoos glower fiercely as she slammed them both into the air with her phase lock, her anger apparent in her shaking limbs.

"Oh...Hi guys!Heheheeeee..."Gaige laughed nervously and let go of the chainsaw she was starting up. Lilith took a deep, shaky breath.

"Listen you two, i don't care how it happened or who started it but I. Am. In. No. Mood." She threatened. "And before I murder you will you please tell that dam robot to stop!" Gaige hadn't noticed, but Deathtrap had long ago abandoned trying to attack Brick and had ,for the last 30 mins, been content to happily rip up the couch. She nodded and de-digistructed him.

Lilith angrily turn her back on them and dropped them to the floor with a thud. Maya just stared wide eyed from the couch. This wasn't the same fun, casual Lilith and noticed that Mordecai was cowering in the background. What was up with everybody?

Then followed was a long, dragging silence and the tension, it was so thick you could of cut it with a knife. Everybody waiting for someone to speak.

"Wow...Lilith...Im sorry..."Gaige eventually stuttered and Brick nodded to show that he too was the same. But Lilith just shook her head.

"No its not you, its just..."She took a long sigh and then the silence returned.

"Are we still going to do movie night?"Maya suddenly blurted out in order to try and lighten the mood but instantly regretted it and mentally slapped herself. Lilith sighed again and smiled meekly at Maya, "Yes I suppose so but first I really need to talk to everyone. Where is Zer0 and Sal?"

"Well Salvador is out at a bandit camp I think. He said something about a badass flaming psycho midget that needs blowing up... But to be honest I find punching sooooooo much better, cause its..."

"Okay I get it! Where is Zer0 then?"Lilith interrupted Brick still visually annoyed.

"Oh he went to his room a little ago. Ill go fi..."

"Ill go get him" Maya suddenly running out the door. She just wanted to be out of there and she needed to quickly speak to the guy anyway.

"Okayyyyyyyyy..."Brick was a bit ticked off after being interrupted for the second time.

Phwfft. He thought. Women.

* * *

Maya was glad to get out of that situation and fast. She loved her friends but when a fight, like a serious fight, broke out they ussally became the asshole bragaid, esspecially Lilith.

She walked around the the side of the HQ building where there was a ladder. They had improved the building after they had defeated Warrior, adding pretty much another level meaning they could all have their own quarters because sleeping in that one cramped room together was something of a nightmare...as some who will not be named snored, like ALOT. Anyways she began to climb up the ladder, and briefly paused to sit on the ledge of the building. It was surprisingly quiet in Sanctuary that night, save the odd smash of a glass and drunken laughter from Moxxi's, she sat back and thought about what life was like now that they had discovered the vault. There was still so much to do and now that they knew about the other Vaults there was a never ending stream of work, but no one simply seemed to be in the mood.

To tell the truth...

Everyone still missed Roland. He was the one who practically inspired them and when he...well...you know...They got their revenge but now what? She thought they just needed a break from it all and then they would be a good as new, because killing bandits clans was still always fun no matter what.

Her mind then wandered to Zer0. It had allot recently. Something was wrong , she could feel it. Could he be sick? Would he tell them if he was? He was very stubborn when it came to things like injuries, as the guy could practically get run over by one of Scooter's cars and swear a fly had just hit him.

She smiled to herself at this.

Maybe her or one of the other hurt of offended him somehow... Does... Does he care? About us? About what we think? He never seemed to HATE but for a while now he hasn't actually expressed any motion that he actually... Likes, any of us. Does he... In fact ever since Roland had gone he...

Maya out a hand to her forehead realising that she had broken out into a cold sweat.

No. No,no,no,no. She was over thinking this WAY to hard. But why does she care so much? Zer0 was actually starting to worry her and no one else seemed to notice. They all used to take bullets for each other but now they walk away from him like he is a stranger... He, looks at her like she is a stranger...

Maya, too wrapped up in her own thoughts about Zer0, she didn't notice that the minutes were dragging by until

"Maya! You up there!?" Brick's voice boomed from the front door. She was violently slapped back down to reality where she realised what she was ment to be doing.

"Em...YES...IM ON IT!" She shouted in reply as she jumped to her feet and scaled the rest of the ladder. Why? WHY WAS HE ON HER MIND SO MUCH!?

She soon reached the top of the building made her way towards the new slab on concrete that was now there. Most of the guys in the groups rooms where here. She walked into the building.

Hit by a wall of electrifying paralysis.

* * *

I PROMISE THERE WILL BE BLOOOOD AND STUFF NEXT TIME! sorry :( I just felt like I had to have some sort of intro and I kinda got to carried away heehehe

I cant tell you how happy the reviews have made me and I get the general sense that my spelling and grammar is a bit on the toilet side XD BUT THANK YOU! Okay last thing cause this is goin on for a while is to 'Anonymous Reader' I am going to post this here cause I cant PM you so your going to be embarrassed publicly! WAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH :D I just cant tell you in words how happy your review made me when I read it THANK YOU SOO MUCH !

Soooo please say what you would like to see done better!


	3. Monophobia- The Fear of yourself

Hey y'all! Got nothin else tae do but write this story sooooo ONWARDS! Oh in regard to de tittle of this chapter, I know mono-phobia of more often associated with the fear of being left by yourself, but I couldn't find an actual name for the fear of yourself sooooooooooooo yeah.

I am really happy with the reviews ^0^ YALL MAKE ME SOOOO HAPPPY! Im sorry about ma spellin in all, I know its not that much different but to those in the US please remember that Im from the UK and the grammar and spellin is diff. But ive tried hard to make it right!

Okay so Im gonna try and make this allot darker and such but sorry if i wonder off again :)

* * *

Maya grasped her arm which was now twitching out violently out of her control.

It was a strange picture really. A powerful, deadly, unstoppable siren now reduced to currently pissing herself outside someone's room. Almost pitiful. She had to practically drag her hand to knock on the door, and even then it just stayed there, suspended in mid air. The second slowed to hours as she finally gave up on forcing herself to knock and went strait for the handle and was slightly surprised to find the door unlocked. Taking shaky breaths she pushed it open...

* * *

"WHO THE FUCK TAKES 30 MINUTES TO CLIMB A LADDER!?" Lilith was still in rage mode and went strait for Brick as soon as he returned from checking on Maya.

"Lil you're shouting again, please calm down." The poor hispanic had his face deeply buried in his hands. "Your gonna give me a migraine." Lilith gave a frustrated groan and threw herself ,on what remained of, the couch (that being a scrambled collection of foam of which the colour gave you the impression that someone just blew their nose all over it).

"Sorry," She mumbled. "stressed." At this Gaige walked over and patted her on the shoulder.

"Its fine, I think we've a..."

"WHAT IS UP YA'LL!" Axton screamed bursting through the poor door, obviously on the drunk side. Plaster heavily rained from the ceiling and everyone did nothing but just stared at the commando in disbelief, especially Mordecai who had already had to fix the dam thing for the third time that week.

"AXTON YOU IDI..." Lilith began, only to be interrupted by Axton burping like a glorified badass.

"O...Oh hEy LiL! WhEn didddid... WhEn Didi you GEt EHre? GivES A hUg!" He said trying to come up with a sober response. Goofiness spread across his smug face he ran towards to give her a hug, only to trip on the chainsaw that had been sitting innocently on the floor. Everything was in slow motion as he flew through the air *you may play Chariots Of Fire music at this point*

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..."

SMASH!

Now to describe the current state of downstairs HQ without using the words 'TOTAL FREAKING DISASTER' would definitely be a challenge... No doubt about that. I'll put it this way. There was wallpaper on the floor and carpet on the walls (the second taking serious skills), the washing machines were smashed in such a way that can only be described as a work modern art, cotton and other fabrics littered the room along with vicious looking derby. A few water pipes had also burst, quickly turning the place (much to Kreig's delight) into an indoor swimming pool and, even if there was no tuba there beforehand, there was now. All in all, the place was nothing short of a 'wee' bit of a mess.

*BURP*"OHh heY LiliBear! HoW... WhE... hOW Djooo GEt dOWn tHere?!" The intoxicated wreaking-ball was lying, starfish spread, on top of a terrified Lilith, still with that stupid grin plastered across his face. The siren's face quickly turned from terror , to pissed off and rage in a matter of seconds and the commando soon found himself dazed among the sculptural wreckage of the washing machines on the other-side of the room.

"WHAT THE HELL!" She screamed her tattoos beginning to glow again, but while Lilith was clearly drunk with rage, Gaige (and probably Brick too) had a COMPLETELY different opinion.

"That...was... AWSOME!" She squealed jumping up and down like a two year-old on LSD (don't ask where I got that comparison from). "Axton, you are one serious badass !"Over at the washing machines Axton wobbly raised his head and gave her his best toothy grin...only really revealing that quite a few of his teeth had been knocked out. A terrified Patricia Tannis then stumbled out from one of the *ahem*, less, smashed up machines where they all totally forgot that the poor woman had been hiding in for the past hour or so. She took a few shaky breaths before running out the now non existent door to god-knows-where and Lilith couldn't help but smile.

-Sometime Later-

They had all managed the impossible feat of all calming down and got to the reasonable question of...

"Where the hell have those two got to?" Wondered Lilith who was obviously tiered. She looked round at everyone whom in return gave her the death glare of 'Don't you dare ask me cause im not going to go,' , even Axton who was now bandaged up , holding an ice pack to his head.

"Seriously what are those two doing up there?"Gaige pondered looking to the ceiling, and Axton ,despite his current sate, replied with...

"What aren't they doing is the question!" which earned him with a swift smack in the face.

* * *

Her hand was hand was still on the light-switch. Her mouth went dry and her vision began to blur.

_Run to him! Help him!_

She couldn't move. The shock that was before her had paralysed her with terror.

She has seen blood before, no question, but this was...

There had been struggle.

There was large cracks in the walls where the red liquid freshly dripped and ran down. Blunt objects had been ripped of walls, used as weapons with the red evidence still there. There was so much of it...so much blood... and he was sitting in the middle of it.

In the middle of corpses...or what was left of them.

She didn't know what to do, but would anyone?

"Z...Zer0?" she finally managed to croak out. He did nothing. Those dead eyes continuing to stare up at her, like they were trying to see past her. "What happened?"

"Let me..." She took a stumbling step forward before freezing again. He began to shake, making ripples in the pools of blood. "Let me help you..." her voice now a hoarse whisper as she tried to get to him.

"Why help something, you could never possibly understand." Shivers raced up her spine and she felt her skin prickle as cold as ice. His faint whisper of a voice, twisted by his half broken helmet, suddenly stabbed the silence. Warning and threat was woven into his tone and she felt...

Scared

For the first time in her life she felt death's cold essence surrounding her. All these years of being shot and hurt had never made her feel so trapped, alone...powerless. She closed her eyes, took deep breaths before finally muttering,

"How do you know?" The silence returned as be began to shake violently and grasped his own arm, his fingernails digging in, drawing blood.

"Who..." He paused to return his head into his arms "Who do you fear?"

"What are you...?"

* * *

OoOoOooooookay so I know that so far not much seems to be going on and i know i got carried away With the whole gooffy bit but i had tae find somthin tae fill in da bit where she found him in the first place ( ch.1) and copy and pasting would of seemed like... cheating. so ill actually have next chapter actually about the plot but it was hard to do it on this one you understand :D Oh and thanks review wise it has been a real help! (Me is bad at spellin) XD

Im not sure i really like this chapter to be honest and might just end up redoing it, but let me know what you think! (or ill get evil Zer0 on ya! hehehehe)


	4. Renfield's Syndrome

HEY YA'LL! WOOOOO CHAPTER 4444444 * party poppers*

Sooooo I apologise in advance cause i don't mean to make Lil sound like such a bitch and all so il work on that as well as grammar and sttuuuuffff XD

* * *

She could only stare terrified at the wreck of a man in front of her. To horror-stricken to answer his question.

"Who do you fear?" He whispered once more, becoming more pained by the minute.

"I...I..."

"Do you fear yourself?" he interrupted her. Her eyes widened at this and her brained screamed at her to run...run while she still could, while the door was still open and her friends downstairs.

"Are you scarred at what you can do?" his voice lowered "At what those things will dive you to do?" anger and self-loathe ran thick in the air. What was he talking about? "At what the world has shaped you to be? The things you want and cant control..."

"Why wont you let me help you?!"

"..."

Before she could even blink she was slammed against the wall, held by her neck. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she kicked and clawed at his gloved hand in a vain attempt to release herself, her strength quickly draining.

She was alone, trapped with no way out. With a monster she didn't recognise.

"How can you possibly help me?" he hissed as he tightened his grasp on her slender neck with animalistic strength. Those twisted, dead, crazed eyes bore into hers. "Why do they look at me like that!? Why?!"

"I don't know!" she whimpered as her eyes began tearing up.

"I cant control myself... I CANT AND HE KNEW THAT!" He had never raised his voice before and he wasn't speaking in haiku. "I cant..." he said burying his helmet into her shoulder. "I am not like you..." his voice dropping once more "...I need it so bad."

"ZER0!" she finally cried using her remaining breath, and was suddenly dropped to the floor, gasping desperately for air. She finally looked up to see him shaking with the realisation at what he had just done. He began to trip backwards to the other-side of the room.

"No,no,no,no,no... This...cant be happening!" She looked in despair at him now cowering in the corner of the room."Leave..." she barley herd him say.

"Zer..."

"LEAVE!" Maya managed to pick her self up and scramble out the door, slamming it behind her. Breathing deeply she leaned against the frame, the tears beginning to roll down her face.

* * *

"HALLE-FUK'IN-LUJAH!" Axton excliamed when Maya finally scrambled in amoungst the rubble, looking around in bewilderment at the destruction caused in a few minitues.

"That didn't take a few years," Gaige cheerfully laughed then peeking round behind Maya "so where is Le Ninja in question?" SHHHIIIIIIIIITTTTTT, were Maya's first thoughts and the blood began to drain from her face. What should she say? Should she tell them? Yes, that is the best idea,

"Eh he is feeling bit sick so he is just stayin in bed." Well, done Maya, she thought mentally slapping herself for the second time that day. They seemed to buy it though, judging by the look of annoyance spreading across Lilith's face. The poor siren could never get everyone-one in the same room when she wanted to talk to them, but there was something else in her expression. Was it...relief?

"Was he hot?" Axton asked strait-faced despite the visible urge to grin.

"Yeah he did have a bit of a tempr... WAIT NOT LIKE THAT!" suddenly realising what the commando meant and groaned in frustration. What was wired was no-one seemed to notice that she was covered with blood but seeing as how Lilith was blinded by rage, Axton by bandages, Brick was too used to it and Gaige was... was ,well, Gaige, it didn't really surprise her.

"Okay, well now that most of us are here," Lilith paused momentarily to kick the drunken hunter ,asleep on the couch, awake "I have two bits of info. One is that there are loads of new bounties going out for a bandit going around villages and apparently slicing their guts out, so that will be some fun." Brick smiled."Next is i have foun..."

"UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Cant we just watch a film already?" Axton groaned, slamming his head on the table.

"But I..." she said bringing out a small sharp object from her back pocket.

"Yeah! I brought 'Midget Bandit Explosion III' !" Gaige chirped in.

"I found this when Roland..." Poor Lilith was trying to tell everyone about something potentially very important.

"Aww but Ive already watched that 10 times already! How about 'Moxxi on Moxxi christmas addition'?" Mordecai suddenly perking up and waving his copy around.

"GUYS I THINK HE WAS..."

"Dude IM EIGHTEEN!" Gaige spat back at him and soon the whole room turned into a colossal debate over which film they all wanted to watch, which surprisingly didn't lead to all-out conflict...for once. In amongst the argument and clutter Lilith stared over and smiled sadly at her fellow siren, and went to sit quietly in the corner. She too had changed.

Eventually the films came down to either 'Twilight: Bandit Moon' (something about a horny school girl who goes of with a hundred year old skag) or the complete collection of Scooter's *ahem* home tapes, which Brick had managed to nick off him and Maya had the deciding vote.

"Common M your gonna LOVE it! The skag is super hot and mysterious!" Gaige said waving the box in front of her face ,because she was sure fast moving objects where going to change her mind. Mordecai and Brick stood there with their arms folded.

"Don't ditch us now! You have been friends with us for longer and do you really wanna watch that teen dribble?" No, but to be honest she didn't want to watch baldly made porn featuring Scooter's poor close relatives either.

"As I said, super hot , dark and mysterious! Just like your boyfriend!" Gaige quickly slapped her hand to her mouth as Maya's head snapped to her. "Hehehe..." She laughed nervously.

"I don't fancy him!" Maya quickly blurted out defensively and felt a (hopefully not to obvious) blush spread across her face. But Gaige wasn't buying it and put a hand on her hip.

"Oh don't you give me that! I've seen you running around after him, ogling his backside as you do." The mechromancer said with a coy smile (even though she had the strong sensation that her organs may be used as party decorations in a minute). "Scared of a little romance?"

Maya didn't know, but if romance was strangling each other that SURE! "Fineeeeee we will watch that 'Bandit Moon' thing." She groaned, in any case she gave the teen her best death-glare of death for good measure.

* * *

She was glad to finally be in her room and for some alone time. She needed to think.

Why did she defend him? She should have told them what had happened, I mean, the guy had just practically tried to kill her! She reached up and rubbed the marks his grip had left on her neck. She knew he was strong, stronger than most, but nothing like THAT. He was more of the agile, swift type, heck, she had even thrashed him in an arm wrestling contest before! But what disturbed her most was his eyes, twisted with bloodlust. THAT and the fact that she still cared about him after arguably one of the most traumatic moments in her life. Maya suddenly felt alone and petrified in her dark, empty room and the dripping water pipe outside was DEFINITELY not helping. She could here her own blood pounding in her ears and felt like she was suddenly back in that room, with that...THING. What had happened there? Did he...

Right then one of Maya's books decided it would be THEE perfect time to jump of the bookshelf and smash to the floor, making the shaken up girl jump literally out of her skins. After about a minute hiding under the covers she sat up and laughed at her self. First she had been tossed around by the weakest guy ever and now she had been scared by a book!

Wait!

Why didn't she use her sirens powers beforehand?! The thought hit her as she remembered it feeling like the energy literally being sucked out of her, as well as her life. She felt cold agin so she picked up her pillow and marched out the door.

* * *

OKAY...She could do this! She hesitantly raised up her hand and knocked on the door, and almost instantly regretted it. The door swung open to reveal a giant 8 foot robot.

"Emm... Is Gaige there?" Maya asked not even sure if Death-trap could speak. He digistructed away and a tired looking Gaige in red bunny pyjamas (it also had an anarchy sign on the back) slumped to meet her.

"Whaaaaaaaaaatttttttt?" She moaned. The siren took a deep breath and said,

"Please don't say anything, but could I sleep in your room tonight?" She could barley believe the words coming out of her mouth but Gaige nodded her head and let her inside. Gaige wasn't her first choice (or the likeable choice) but she knew she could trust her to keep her mouth shut and probably wouldn't pry TOO much into her business.

"WAIT!" the mechromancer suddenly shout, much to Maya's displeasure. "Do you know what this means?!"

"No."

"SLEEP-OVVVVVVVVERRRRRRRRRRRR!" she yelled bouncing into the air.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Another chapter done! YAY! Okay I know Gaige in this is a little... Bonkers, but it just kinda happened sooo yeahhhhhh. I also only made Maya go to her room JUST so I could dae the SLEEEEEPPPPPOVVVEEERRRRRR bit :D Also I didn't intend for Zer0 to come across so...mental, but it will make sense, me promise !

So tells me what you think!


	5. Algophobia- The Fear of being hurt

New chapter WHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Don't expect much from this one cause I was kinda stuck with writing it which is kinda why I haven't updated in a whilezies :( ITS GONNA BE A SHORT ONE!

Also... I have just realised how cringy the title of this story is...

* * *

Zer0 watched as she threw herself out his room.

Fuck.

First it was him and now Maya. Why did it have to happen? He didn't even recognise himself anymore and now obviously his 'friends' didn't either. He sighed and reached up to take off his helmet, noticing the extensive damage done to his visor and angrily threw it at the wall, burying his face in his fists which too were covered with blood. Shit, shit, shit, shit. He had issues.

* * *

Maya's heart sank as she saw Gaige dump an armful of echo-films on the floor.

"So what film do ya want to watch first? OOOOOOO or do you want to talk about robots or boys?" she asked jumping up and down excitedly. Maya sighed,

"Sorry but I was kind of hoping I could get some sleep..."

"AAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWW! PLLLLLEAAAAASSSSSEEEEEEE!" Gaige moaned back at her giving her best puppy eyes.

"I'll make it up to you in the morning and we will go blow up a bandit camp or something. Okay?"

"Not even for a LITTLE bit?"

"FINEEEEEEE" Maya plonked herself down on the floor hugging her blanket closer to her. Maybe it would be nice to just have someone to talk to, just as long as she didn't bring up...

"BOYYYYYYYFRIENNNNNDSSSS!" Gaige loudly announced, throwing herself to the floor. Maya totally forgot that she was a horny eighteen year-old and apparently this is all girls talked about at her age. Oh no.

"Really? Couldn't we talk about robots or something? I mean there aren't exactly many 'sane/non deformed/attractive guys' walking the face of Pandora you know." Gaige just raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her.

"Oh really?"

"YES!"

"No tall, dark, mysterious types got your interest?"

"Gaige stop it..." The siren was starting to get annoyed.

"No particular reason you turned down a sexy commando?" she giggled obviously pleased about the way she was winding Maya up.

"GAIGE!"

"No-ones arm you casually ran your fingers down?"

"Stop it!"

"I mean its TOTALLY not obvious..."

"PISS OFF! HE IS A CREEPY, FUCKING, PCHYCO PATH!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"What..."

"YOU HEARD ME! NO MATTER WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR HIM, HE WOULD SLIT OUR THROATS FOR A FEW SPARE COINS OR IN SOME NAME OF ONE HIS LITTLE 'CHALLENGES'! THATS ALL HE SEES AND THATS WHAT WE ARE TO HIM! I BET HE WOULD LOVE TO SEE OUR BLOOD RUN ONE DAY! HE DOESN'T CARE, NOT ONE BIT. HE WOULD HAPPILY LEAVE US ALL TO ROT." She was quickly calming down, taking deep shaky breaths.

Silence.

She instantly regretted her outburst. She looked over at Gaige whose whole face was silent, head bent staring at the floor. It suddenly grew dark and angry eyes snapped to her.

"Gaige im sorr..."

"Goodnight Maya." She hissed, and went to turn out the lights and threw herself on her bed. She sighed, totally forgetting that Zer0 was like a big brother to the mechromancer and practically her inspiration for a total badass and, to be honest, Maya was surprised that the girl hadn't smashed her face in.

Well, that was two friends down in one day. Well done Maya, well done.

* * *

The next day was probabaly more akward.

Both Maya and Gaige left early to go shoot someone, hoping it would blow off some steam, neither saying anything to each other as they walked out of HQ and over to the fast travel station.

"Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know." Gaige absently mumbled not looking at the siren. Maya quietly sighed to herself and picked The Soaring Dragon, hoping that Captain Flynt's men were still there.

Walking out of the fast travel station, Gaige moodily marched away from her towards the big ship, obviously still upset from yesterday. Maya was upset too, as she didn't really mean what she said... she hoped.

* * *

BANG, went a pcyho's head as it exploded like a party popper.

"You know i'm sorry, right?" ,Maya asked worriedly over the sound of the gunfire as they were surrounded, back to back.

"YOU," more brainy confetti shot out another skull, "HAD NO RIGHT TO SAY THOSE THINGS!"

KA-BLAMER.

"Please I didn't mean it like that!" she pleaded and she was showered with some goliath's blood and innards .

"WHAT DID YOU MEAN THEN? HE IS YOU'RE FUCKING FRIEND MAYA! I THOUGHT WE WERE ALL FAMILY!"

"Oh COME ON! It's not like you haven't noticed he has changed..."

SPLAT

"What? Since Roland died? No-shit Einestine (who ever that is) ,its kinda a hard thing to get over!"

"But..."

"You know, its times like this when your supposed to be sticking out for your buddies, not stabbing them in the back!"

Slap. To. The. Face.

The poor siren could only hear her heart throb and water threatening to emerge over her eyelids. But... she did care.

"You know thats not true." The usually happy, springy badass Gaige only snorted in disgust at this. "I just worry."

"You don't worry... YOU DONT UNDERSTAND AT-ALL!" she bitterly whispered (whispered being kinda a shout cause...well if you have ever been in a fire fight you'll understand) Maya decided to come clean as she saw no other-way out of this.

"Listen something happened yesterday."

"I don't care." She stated bluntly, more concentrated on setting a hoard on fire and Maya gripped her gun tighter.

"When I went up to his room yesterday..."

"Shut up..." her gun started to waver.

"He tried to..."

"I said shut it..." she dropped the gun.

"Kill..."

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Gaige now spun round, buried herself in Maya's arms and began to cry for the first time after leaving her home and her dad. The siren could only hug her back. They sat on the ground and for a few minutes no one spoke until in-amongst her sobbing the youngest Vault Hunter blubbered,

"He hit me round the face."

He needed help.

Poor Gaige.

An awkard coughed made them both look up, as while in the middle of their dramatic scene they had forgotten and were COMPLETLY unaware that they suorounded by seventy odd banditis.

*crickets*

"Ermmmmmmm... Hi guys! Heeeheeee..." Maya looked down to Gaige.

"Lets kill these guys and sort this shit out eh?"

"Sounds like a plan!" She replied grinning ear to ear and jumped to her feet, raisng her shot gun.

"Alright lets show these guys what the queen of GO FISH can really do!"

* * *

Not a great chapter i know but dare be allot goin of lately so time wise it aint helpfull and okay looking over dis i kinda notice that the way maya is frazing it , it sounds like she got *ahem* by zer0, sooooooo yeah. Also this is coming out to deprssin for ma tastes i dont know LET ME KNOW WHAT YAL THINK PLEZZZZZZ :D


	6. Blood, with an Extra Helping of Blood

Well new cahper! yay! Some part are a wee bit rushed so sowwie about that :( hopeis you enjoy!

* * *

Lilith held the shard in her palm and stared long and hard at it, hoping and praying that she was wrong and that the whole situation would vanish like a bad dream... Or nightmare. However if she was right, and it would make sense, then there was going to be a whole lot of pain coming. Sighing, she sat up from her bunk, she had no idea how to go about proving her theory. Going to the 'scene of the crime' was out of the question as, one, she wasn't about to go step in that place again for as long as she lived and ,two, Brick and his Slabs had taken the liberty of carpet bombing the pace to the ground so she couldn't even if she wanted to. She was thinking about taking the shard to either Zed or Scooter, but she wasn't sure how reliable they were when it came to not yapping out secrets, and Tannis just plain and simple creeped her out, and to be honest anyone she could take it to was too close to... The Siren quickly slashed away the tears and tried to think back to happier times, when she was a carefree, happy, badass Vault Hunter without the strain of running a floating city... and not accusing one of her friends of murder.

* * *

*knock* *knock*

"Hey Z-man you in there?" Axton strained to listen in front of the door. "Heloooooo?" Slowly pushing open the door he peered inside. "Anybody home?" Walking in he spotted a faint figure curled up in the corner of the room. "Is that you? Okay, well, Im coming over!" Axton, not particularly bothered about the blood, guts and deathly silence, stepped over the dead bodes littered around the room, until the lights decided they've had enough and all went out very generic horror film like. "Hey Zer0 buddy? I know how much you like to be a ninja and all, but if you jump out on me you're getting a rocket launcher to the face. Just sayin." He peered through the dense darkness in search of the Assassin, before forgetting he had a flashlight. Flicking it on, he swung the beam around the bloodied room. "Hey, Im loving the home-decorating by the way. Very murder-y."

"Axton..." Suddenly one of the mangled bodies twitched and began to shudder. The Commando wasted no time in briskly walking over to the form, Jacobs pistol in hand and taking aim at the head. It was hard to see in the dark, but he could make out beaten, broken and almost gutted form slumped lifeless by a wall, coated from head to toe in dark, oozing blood with plenty more to spare forming a neat puddle on the ground. It twitched again and he was just about to help redecorate the walls with the guys brains when he noticed the torn, yet unmistakably distinguishable suit thats was Zer0's. His eyes widened with fright and he threw himself down to his friends side. "Holy shit! Zer0 are you all right wake up, what the hell happened?"

"Axton?"

The man in question sighed in relief. "Yeah, its me." Zer0's head fell back to the wall and his remaining good arm came up to cover his eyes, his other arm was graced with burnt skin and a ,long deep gash that ran from his fingers to his shoulder, with crude shrapnel pocking out at obscure angles. "Fuck, man how long have you been like this?"

"Too long."

Axton waster no time delving into his pockets in search of anything syringe shaped before the Assassin bled out on him (they where having troubles with the New-U machine for quite sometime now). "Here we go, sorry this might hurt!"

The Assassin let out a painful grunt and slammed his head back against the wall as Axton rammed a particularly nasty Insta-Health into his gut and his blood began to spill down his torso. "Whoopsy-Doodles! Wrong place, hold on a min!" Yanking it out, he then proceeded to blindly stab it somewhere near his lungs this time.

"FUCK!"

"Ops sorry!" Axton cried, frantically trying to stop the blood spraying everywhere and to inject the Insta-Health at the same time."Well here goes!" Unfortunately in his hurry his hand slipped and hit the same place again.

"FAAAA******* *** ***** *** ** **** **** ******!( Too foul for human eyes)"

"Okay sorry sorry sorry! THIS time will be for REAL!" Axton pleaded and raised it above his head.

"NO no no no nononononoono!" Poor Zer0 cried at his wits end and snatched it, traumatised, from his hand. "I... I can do it..." He gulped, "Okay now where...WAIT A MINUTE! Axton, this is a biro, not an Insta-Health you idiot!" he tried to yell, before he began to shake and blood began to drizzle and froth at his mouth.

"Oh shit, really? Errmmm..." he looked around the floor at the dark puddle he was sitting in, if he hadn't lost blood before he had now! "Wait how did I manage to stab you with a pen? You must be made of paper mâché and swiss cheese or something."

"Shut up about it and help me!" He faintly gasped, fading in and out of consciousness. Axton, not quite understanding the urgency of the situation, calmly rummaged around in his backpack.

"Ah here we go!" The Commando injected a ,real, Insta-Health into his side and the wounds at last started to heal themselves. "Phew! Just in time right?" but he didn't get a response the other Vault Hunter ,fainted from blood loss (and probably really bad shock too). Axton looked with concern at his beaten up and bloodied friend, true that the business with the biro didn't help, but he was still in terrible shape when he found him. what really worried him though, was the fact that his helmet off, not that he was ugly or anything, just thats not happened in the history of... ever, and who or whatever it was managed to hurt him this much and make him resort to taking his helmet off was an obvious threat. In any case, he needed to get him some help and as much as he didn't trust Zed when it came to ,not giving his patients tetanus , he did have much of an option at the moment. Lifting the assassin up over his shoulder, he was surprised at how light the guy was, and seriously considered the possibility that he might actually be made of cheese and children's arts and crafts materials.

He was half way the room when he noticed Zer0's sword lying discarded and broken on the floor and picked it up out of curiosity of what ever possessed the Assassin to leave his number one possession like this, when usually anyone who dared do such a thing may as well have sent the Grim Reaper a death wish through first class post. Shoving it into his pocket he proceeded down to Zed's clinic.

* * *

She'd made up her mind, she was taking it to Zed to see what he could make of it. She was going to ask Mordecai for his opinion, but the last time she tried to tell the others, it didn't exactly work.

"Well, hey there Lilith!" Greeted the friendly and phycopathically insane non-doctor as she walked through the door.

"Hey Zed. I need you to do me a massive favour for me and ,if it's not to much trouble, keep it between you and me?" Lilith look around at his ever bloody clinic and the comforting hum of the vending machines.

"I dont usually do favours, but since you and your Vault pals have saved me more time than I can count, I think I can make an exception. What can I do for you?"

Lilith paused for a moment, "Well could you take a look at this?". She held out the shard to him, which he took after wiping a large amount of goop off his hands. Looking berifly at it, his face suddenly lit with exitement behind his mask, "Well, I never! This is a piece from one of those fancy E-Tech sword things! Now where did you manage to get this?"

Lilith started to feel a little sick, it was starting to look bad. "I... found it at a New-U station." She answered truthfully.

"Well, go back! Those E-Tech sword are rare to come by and sell for hundreds! Now that you mention it... the only person I think if ever seen with one is Zer0, heh, he gives me plenty of bodies to experi... opps, 'research' on, thats how i know it coms from one of those things."

* * *

Axton was grateful for everyone else's absence, the last thing he wanted was a hysterical Gaige or a pissed of Salvador on him hands as he rushed to the clinic.

Well, everyones absence apart form,

"Minion!"

Axton mentally swore to himself, he didn't have the time or the patience for this. "Minion, your master has a quest for ye!" Claptrap happily wheeled over and in that over-bearing, enthusiastic voice of his yelled, "I require more pizza for my awesome Halloween party, so I need you to... Holy wall sphincters! Who...who is the daed guy?"

"Its Zer0, he's badly hurt and I need to get him help!"

"Hey what about this thing-y-ma-jig?" claptrap was tossing the other Vault Hunters sword around, which he somehow managed to pickpocket from the Commando.

"Give that back!" he yelled, about to turn the robot into a scrap heap.

"Not until you tall me the full story!" Claptrap teased oh so cheerfully. Axton fell his patience wear thin with the piece of junk and gritted his teeth in absolute frustration. This was one of the few times in his life that he felt the urge to be serious, the other time was when Roland was killed and Lilith captured, but he knew form experience that the fastest and most hassle free way to get out would just be to spill it.

"Okay, but you listen to me, DONT TELL ANYONE! Even if Lilith asks you, dont tell, okay!?" Axton could feel that there was something very off with the entire situation and he didn't want the others knowing JUST yet.

"Minion, you have your master's word!"

"I found him in his room, looks like he was attacked or something, he was literally lying among a pile of corpses. To be honest..."

"Whoa!" Claptrap blurted in, having immediately lost interest in the story, "He's got his helmet off! Hey where did you go?"

* * *

DERRRRP! Tell wha yall thought! This story is goin somewhere by the way, just takin its time gettin there! :D


End file.
